The Montreal Canadiens, banking on playoff muscle memory to supersede age and time, signed forward Danny Briere on Thursday to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $4 million.

Briere, 36, was bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers after an injury-filled, ineffective 2013 season. That didn't prevent him from being in high demand, though, and the Canadiens wound up beating out several teams, including the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and Nashville Predators. The supposition is that Briere will prove his worth in the postseason.

That's all well and good—Montreal lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs—but Briere is essentially a specialist at this point. The deal doesn't foul up Montreal's salary cap situation all that much, since it now has 21 players under contract for 2013 and it's just a two-year contract, but Briere is unlikely to be a $4 million player for either of them.

Briere helps—at a reasonable rate on a third line and potentially a power play. But if he winds up signing for, say, $4 million annually for any period of time, he's unlikely to return the investment. His even-strength points-per-game has gone from 0.69 to 0.46 to 0.29 over the last three seasons, and that comes against relatively weak competition. Given his age, he's unlikely to bounce back to a level that makes him worth the money he's likely to receive.

Less important, Briere is French-Canadian and, up until now, had been booed in Montreal. That'll change—at least for a while. And it's easy to joke about all the plaudits Briere receives for his professionalism, but he's likely to be a positive influence on young players like Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher.